New York-based Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) will be a free agent as of June 6 when the contract with Salita Promotions expires. He is already free to negotiate with others.
Yesterday BoxingTownQC tweeted that Wallin would take on Canadian Simon Kean (23-1) on the undercard to Artur Beterbiev’s defense of the WBC light heavyweight title against Callum Smith, on August 19 in Quebec, Canada.
However, Otto reports that contest is not a done deal (and site / date for Beterbiev vs Smith is apparently not set either).
Wallin turned pro with Team Sauerland back in 2013 and won the EU title in 2018 when he outscored fellow-Swede Adrian Granat. Sauerland later closed down its Scandinavian team and Otto moved to New York and signed with Salita Promotions.
In 2019, he gave Tyson Fury all he could handle but after that outing fights have been few and far between. Wallin was all set to fight Dillian Whyte on October 30 of 2021, for the WBC International title, but then Whyte pulled out due to an injury and the fight was never rescheduled.
On a positive note, the WBC treated the Swede nicely in the ratings and he went from a position below the top 20 to his current top ten rating. Wallin fought once in 2020, once 2021, twice 2022 and this far once in 2023 – mostly against unrated opponents.
Trained by Joey Gamache since day one as a pro, Wallin has developed into a high class slick defensive minded boxer – and he is a southpaw so one can easily see why the big boys are avoiding him.